This is the blog income and traffic report February 2016! If you are interested and want to see all our other income reports click here!
My busiest month ever, and the best so far in terms of income.
February and the first couple of weeks in March have been pretty crazy – which is why I’m a little later than usual in getting my report out.
A quick run-down of what’s been happening:
Superfood Magazine:
I’m in print yay!! A few months ago, I created six substantial salads for Superfood Magazine. I’m not ashamed to admit I did the biggest happy dance around the living room when I got a copy in Feb and saw my name on there. The kids now totally believe I’m famous ha ha hah.
It’s still in the shops (I’ve spotted it in Sainsburys and M&S so far, but you can also pick it up here)
Kung Fu Panda 3 and LKK:
I got invited to an early viewing of Kung Fu Panda 3 by Lee Kum Kee who have partnered with Dreamworks for the film release!
I created this Black Pepper Steak recipe for LKK last year and they kindly asked me to come down to London for the film viewing. I took Chris (left the kids with grandma tee hee!) and we enjoyed a lovely reception with nibbles and yummy LKK sauces, plus a couple of drinks, before sitting down to enjoy the movie.
I shared this image on my Facebook page and one of my friends pointed out that I’d finally found someone to take a photo with who was shorter than me! Cheeky swine! 5ft2 and-a-half isn’t that short!!
Food Photography and Styling course:
Chris and I went back down to London again this past weekend for a food photography course. We met some fab people, and the course tutors got us working on some scone pictures. Chris insisted on an eating shot…..
Unfortunately, we didn’t pick up a whole lot in the course. I was hoping to walk away full of new ideas and techniques, but rather it kind of reinforced what I know already. I’m going to try to find another course to see if I can step up my photography and give me something to compare the last course to.
Personal Trainer:
Lot’s of work and running around has left little time for proper exercise. I’ve also been finding myself scoffing far too much of everything I’ve been cooking. Plus those trips to London with meals out and a hotel room that was next to a pantry stocked with free cakes and sweets for guests (which made it the best hotel ever!!). All of those add up to me feeling rather lardy. Starting Thursday, I’ve got a 10 week course with a personal trainer to whip me into shape. I’m excited, terrified and also trying to ignore the urge to stock my body up with creme eggs and chips before the torture begins! You’ll notice I haven’t included a picture for this particular update. I did take a ‘before’ photo with my belly hanging out, but nothing in this world would make me share it (except maybe a truckload of creme eggs). Sorry.
So that’s been my life recently! Now let’s get on with the numbers. I really hope the info in this post gives you some insight and ideas if you’re new to blogging and monetization. Also check out my How to Start a Food Blog post if you are thinking about giving this blogging thing a go too!
Income Breakdown
Note – there are some links in this post that are affiliate links – which means that if you click on them and then sign up to the service/product I’ll get a small commission (at no extra cost to you of course). If you do click through then thanks!
Income:
- Freelance writing: £1834.74 ($2642.03)
- Sponsored Brand work £300 ($432)
- Gourmet Ads: £103.22 ($148.64)
- Blogher: £66.55 ($95.83)
- Google Adsense: £63.62 ($91.61)
- Amazon Affiliate sales £16.54 ($23.82)
- FoodBloggerPro affiliate sales £8.12 ($11.70)
Total = £2392.79 ($3445.63)
Expenses:
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- FoodBloggerPro: £14.49 ($20.83)
- Hosting and backups: £11.70 ($16.82)
- Tailwind: £6.02 ($8.66)
- MailChimp £13.91 ($20)
Total = £46.12 ($66.31)
Net Profit = £2346.67 ($3379.32)
Traffic
A pretty good month, but about 10k fewer views than January. I got a couple of recipes included in Buzzfeed round-ups which really helps with the traffic.
Here’s a screenshot from Google Analytics for February:
And here’s a breakdown of the traffic sources based on the number of sessions:
Here’s the info on the location of my readers:
Takeaways
Keeping on top of things:
As I mentioned in my last income report I’m working lots of hours and trying to fit a lot in at the moment. Carl from Blog Income Insider left me a comment suggesting that I try reading Hal Elrod’s book – Miracle Morning. I have to say, it’s a great book. A little on the cheesy side in some areas, but some of the suggestions and realizations really hit home. I’ve been getting up early and working through Hal’s life savers list and I’m feeling good. A lot more energised and productive (thanks Carl!!). It’s easy to slip into old habits, so I’ve been topping up by listening to the audio book version when I’m working in the kitchen.
I’ve also been listening to an audio book that Pat Flynn recommends called The One Thing. I’ve always been the person who tries to do 20 things at a time – leading me to get nowhere with any of them. Don’t know why I do it, I just can’t help it. I can’t even listen to music whilst I’m typing – that’s how easily distracted I am (and before you say it, I know I mentioned above that I work in the kitchen whilst listening to audio books, but my limited brain can just about cope with those particular two things). I work well when I’m concentrating on one thing only with no distractions, but I know that without a constant reminder about this, I will slide back to having 10 windows open on my laptop whilst being on the phone, watching a training video and trying to write a blog post. I’m hoping the book is going to help me with that.
So finally coming to the end of the post, I realised I’ve just described myself as an easily distracted, overworked, lardy chocoholic who’s just about taller than a cartoon panda and is (according to my kids) definitely famous. Apart from the famous bit, I think I’ve summed myself up quite well. Once again, thanks for the therapy session 🙂
Hope that’s been helpful, let me know via email or in the comments if there’s anything in particular you’d like me to go over next month.
